Garmin Reviews 117

I've had Garmin watches over a number of years. I went into the sea and the watch broke. It's stuck in a Reset Default Settings loop now. I think I'll pick another brand of watch in future.

Well, based on my experience I’m very surprised by some of the negative reviews on here. My wife and I have had nothing but exceptional service from Garmin and my latest interaction with Jake today was excellent.
My Vivoactive 3 is in need of a new battery, but they do not replace batteries and I’ve had it 4 years approx. I was offered a new replacement for just £60 including new battery which I’m sure anyone would agree it’s amazing. My other option was to upgrade to a Vivoactive 5 for £160, so 2 very nice choices.
I’d say ignore the negative reviews and give them a try. The wife and I have had Garmins for over 10 years are a very happy with them, so therefore highly recommend the company, especially their customer service.

I have a couple of Garmin and they are very good devices when they work! However, do not expect any satisfaction or help from customer support if things go wrong! Currently have a fenix watch which is only a couple of years old, went blind last week and I’ve just been told that it is no longer being made and is now redundant, here is a 30% voucher for a new watch (at least £800).

Total joke, for a variety of reasons and they think that they are a ecologically friendly company! Greenwashing and terrible customer service

I was given my second Garmin as a birthday present from my wife, probably about 3 years ago. My new vivoactive 4 was a great upgrade from my forerunner 35 which I'd had for approx 2 years.
All went well and the functionality was great. I had my goals set and each day my watch would tell me where I was up to and if I'd done a day painting and decorating I could see my calorie burn which was a great addition to my last watch. However my experience has been overshadowed by poor customer service. My watch had started just turning itself off even thought there was ample battery. Sometimes it would come back on by holding down the side buttons for 30 secs but lately I have to plug the watch back into the mains to get it to come alive,,often with over 50% battery life left.
I emailed customer service to ask if there is anything they could suggest to remedy this and had to wait well over 2 weeks for a response, which was sent an email with a link to change my watch for a reconditioned one with a charge of £134! Not what I'd asked and no offer as to why this was occurring. I emailed back and asked if I could have a bigger faced watch but again over 2 weeks later still no reply.
I'd say this is an isolated incident but my wife had similar issues with her watch in 2023. Just stopped working and nothing would bring it back to life. The watch, again a present was less than 2years old so Garmin agreed to send a replacement. Weeks went by with nothing in the post and when my wife contacted than again, they said that watch was no longer available but she would have a newer version for an additional £200!! Well, she wasn't happy and said she would add a negative review and guess what? New watch free of charge. They need to sort out their customer interaction or lose repeat customers.

EDIT: (Mon Oct 7, 2024)
Here's the disappointingly uninspired email questionnaire I received today (Mon 10/7/24 at 12:15 PM) from Garmin. I responded with a "Completely Dissatisfied" rating along with my comments.

GARMIN
Q1. How satisfied are you with the overall support experience you received? ★=Completely Dissatisfied

02. How satisfied were you with the following:

Wait Time: ★=Completely Dissatisted

Helpfulness: ★=Completely Dissatisted

Resolution: ★=Completely Dissatisted

Tell us why you chose this rating on Resolution:

“Because I am still waiting for my bank, Truliant Federal Credit Union, to be added to your list of participating banks, so that I can use “Garmin Pay” on my smartwatch.

03. Did you review online content on our Support Center before reaching out for further help?

“Yes.”

Why did you ultimately decide to get assistance from a Product Support Specialist? (Check all that apply)
- Unable to find the right information or answer
- Steps did not resolve my issue
- Content was too long or confusing
- Other - Please Specify

“Sadly, I am still waiting for my bank, Truliant Federal Credit Union, to be added to the Garmin List of Participating Banks, so that I can use “Garmin Pay”.

“It’s concerning to see a lack of support for customers. I believe this could impact customer loyalty.“

—
Dear Garmin Ltd,

I purchased a Garmin fenix® 7X Pro Sapphire Solar Edition from Amazon on August 25,2024. While the smartwatch is impressive, l am unable to use Garmin Pay because my bank, Truliant Federal Credit Union, isn't listed among your participating banks. Despite contacting Brad and receiving a call from Joey, the issue remains unresolved. I kindly request you consider adding Truliant, which has 300 branches in North Carolina, to your list. Without this support, my $1,075.34 smartwatch cannot be fully utilized.

Thank you for your attention.

Sincerely,
Joseph Todaro

Had Garmin products for walking/hiking for many years. Two areas that have always been lacking. Product support and software updates.
Product support response is usually very poor. At the moment I have been waiting over two weeks for a email reply. Not good enough Garmin, time you got your act together.
Software updates. Garmin do push out updates without testing updates which creates a lot of issues on devices. Really very poor. A recent example of this is base camp. Yes this is no longer supported and Garmin want to discontinue base camp. But offer up no alternative. I can no longer download courses/ routes to my fenix 7 after software update another example of very poor product support.
Garmin have a loyal customer base but beware Garmin you are on the decline and need step up in the two areas I have mentioned.

I advised a problem with the operation of my Garmin Bike Light/Radar.
Within minutes the customer service agent had arranged for me to return it for a replacement unit - the whole process was seamless and 5 days later the replacement arrived - Customer Service doesn’t get any better than that - thanks Garmin